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Greenwich news and information

The news section of Greenwich.co.uk has been paused since 2018. Please enjoy browsing archive news articles below.

Two arrested over body in burning car

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Police have made two arrests following the discovery of a body in a burning car in Angerstein Lane, Blackheath.

Officers found the car alight in the early hours of Saturday morning. The body, found in the boot of the Mercedes C-Class, was later identified as 21 year old Gagandip Singh from Bexleyheath.

Mr Singh was the president of the British Sikh Students Federation. A 19 year old man and a 19 year old woman has been arrested on suspicion of his murder.

An incident room has opened at Lewisham under Detective Chief Inspector Damian Allain from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command.

DCI Allain said: “We are appealing for anyone who was in or around the Angerstein Lane area, and who may have seen this car either arrive or seen anyone acting suspiciously as the car was left ablaze, to contact us.

“We already know that the car was last seen around 5:30pm in south-east London, so we are also appealing to anyone who can help us identify how the car came to be in Angerstein Lane.

Any witnesses or anyone with any information should call the incident room on 020 8721 4805 or they can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Friends and family of the victim are planning to visit Angerstein Lane this evening to pay their respects.

Ms Cupcake mystified over market axe

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Popular Greenwich Market trader, Ms Cupcake, has been left devastated after being told by market bosses she can no longer trade at weekends.

The baker, who promises “the naughtiest vegan cakes in town”, had hoped to carry on trading at Greenwich Market whilst also expanding the business into new premises at Brixton Market.

An email from market bosses assured her that if she did “decide to open elsewhere we would be more than happy for you to continue with your stall on the market for whichever days you wished to trade.”

Earlier this month, business owner Mellissa Morgan announced her expansion plans – only to get the shock news that Greenwich Market was axeing her from her weekend pitch.

“Ms Cupcake” says the decision will have “huge financial repercussions” for her business and that she will no longer be able to recruit five new members of staff she had planned to.

“All we have ever done is promote Greenwich and the market and loved every minute we were there. This is the biggest slap in the face I could ever imagine”, she said.

Regular customer, Daren Clarke, told Greenwich.co.uk:

“I really don’t understand why a thriving, vibrant stall such as this is having its hours cut in such a drastic and, dare I say, draconian way. Only being allowed to trade on a Friday, and having your regular customers from the usual Saturday and Sunday markets deprived of their ‘fix’, seems very short sighted on the behalf of the powers that be.”

Paul Turton, manager of Greenwich Hospital’s commercial estate, commented:

“Because of the ongoing review of the food stalls at the market, we decided to revert to the pre-November trading pattern which allows Ms Cupcake in the week and Ruby Tuesday [who also sells vegan cupcakes] at the weekend.”

Ms Cupcake will be opening the new Brixton shop in April – get more information about that and where she will be trading until then at her website.

Greenwich.co.uk understands that the shock plan to cut the number of food stalls which was announced to traders last summer may not now be proceeding as originally planned.

The proposal, which provoked an angry response from traders, to reduce the number of hot food stalls within the market and to move those remaining into a retail unit is being reviewed by Greenwich Hospital.

NOGOE are small, vocal and “very well heeled”, says MP

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NOGOE campaigners have been left smarting by comments made by local MP, Nick Raynsford, about them at a recent House of Commons committee considering the Government’s Localism Bill.

MPs were debating proposals within the bill to give new powers to communities to nominate buildings or land as “Assets of Community Value” – properties the community would have the guaranteed time to put together a bid for if the owner decided to sell.

Mr Raynsford expressed his concern that the system could be abused and put forward his own amendment which included a provision to pay compensation to owners where community asset listings were made as a result of a “vexatious application”.

He described to the committee a “real life scenario” he had “lived with for the last five years”.  The “large majority of local residents” in the borough of Greenwich welcomed the London 2012 equestrian events in Greenwich Park as a “very attractive proposition” he said, but there was a “relatively small but extremely vocal group of people, very well-heeled with access to legal expertise, who were strongly opposed to this.”

He told MPs that if this provision had been available, campaigners would have sought to designate the park as an Asset of Community Value. “That is the risk: people will try to abuse these provisions in order to stop developments that they regard as undesirable.”, he added.

One upset NOGOE member, wishing to remain anonymous, has since written to the MP:

“I need to point out that NOGOE comprises a great social mix of concerned people of widely differing ages,income and professional status which includes lawyers and some well-connected high-profile professionals but the membership is far wider and inclusive than you seem to believe and I think you should apologise for casting incorrect aspersions on these well-intended people in your constituency”

Stockwell Street exhibition opens

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The University of Greenwich’s vision for a large development in Stockwell Street goes on show today.

The public exhibition of their plans for a new library and School of Architecture at the site, which was formely home to the Village Market, runs from today until Saturday at their Greenwich Campus.

Full details of where to go and of the opening hours can be seen on a dedicated website about the project.

Doctors elected to Greenwich GP Consortium Shadow Board

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Seven local GPs have been elected by their peers to serve on the new Greenwich GP Consortium Shadow Board.

Under NHS reform plans put forward by the government, local GPs will gain control of NHS budgets and be able to commission healthcare services directly for their patients.

Doctors will form groups to manage this process and the line up of the Greenwich GP Consortium Shadow Board has been settled after 109 local doctors participated in an election.

The elected members are: Ram Aggarwal, Hany Wahba, Robert Hughes, Rebecca Rosen, Niraj Patel, Eugenia Lee and Nayan Patel.

The election count was managed by Greenwich Council’s Returning Officer and the single transferable vote system was used. Electoral Reform Services administered the count.

If the changes are introduced as planned, the consortium will take responsibility for commissioning services by April 2013 at which point the existing Primary Care Trust will have been phased out.

More information available here: http://www.greenwich.nhs.uk/gp_consortia

London 2012 schedule unveiled

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London 2012 organisers have revealed the schedule for next year’s summer Olympics.

Full details of the whole schedule are on the London 2012 website, but here’s details of the events in Greenwich.

8th – 12th August – Basketball at the “North Greenwich Arena”, as the O2 will be known for the duration of the Olympics.
28th – 31st July – Equestrian Eventing at Greenwich Park.
2nd, 3rd, 7th, 9th August – Equestrian Dressage at Greenwich Park.
4th, 5th, 6th, 8th August – Equestrian Jumping at Greenwich Park.
28th July – 2nd August & 5th, 6th, 7th August – Artistic Gymnastics at the North Greenwich Arena.
3rd – 4th August – Trampoline Gymnastics at North Greenwich Arena
11th – 12th August – Modern Pentathlon events at Greenwich Park
28th July – 6th August – Shooting at Woolwich Barracks

Cable car scheme hangs in the balance

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The fate of the Thames Cable Car from North Greenwich to the Royal Docks has been left hanging in the air after a new safety review was ordered.

Friends of the Earth campaigners have forced the move by claiming that the cable car would cross the Public Safety Zone for City Airport flights.

The TFL scheme had already received the backing of Greenwich and Newham councils, but in response to safety concerns, London Mayor Boris Johnson has ordered a national air traffic services safety assessment, due to complete by March.

More information can be found in Adam Bienkov’s report for Snipe, and Darryl at 853 has more on the campaigners who have highlighted the issue.

University of Greenwich student murdered

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A “popular and able” student from the University of Greenwich was murdered close to Penge East railway station on Saturday night.

Samuel Guidera, 24, died from a knife wound after being found in the street at the junction of Bailey Place and Newlands Park, SE26. Police believe Samuel may have been the victim of a robbery as he made his way from the railway station to a bus stop in Newlands Park.

Samuel was studying history and politics at the University of Greenwich’s Greenwich campus.

A statement on behalf of his family reads,

“Samuel was a hard working man, who was passionate about his studies. He was also very family orientated. We are devastated and cannot understand why this has happened. We would appeal to anyone who has information about our son to contact the police.”

A spokesperson for the University of Greenwich commented:

“Everyone at the University of Greenwich will be shocked and saddened by this terrible news. Samuel was a first year History student at the University of Greenwich. He was part of the university’s School of Humanities & Social Sciences, based on the Greenwich Campus.

“Samuel was a popular and able student who had made excellent progress in his studies, achieving very good grades. He earned  the respect and affection of his tutors and fellow students and  will be sadly missed by those who taught and knew him.”

An incident room has opened under the Homicide and Serious Crime Command

Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane, said:

“Mr Guidera had spent the day watching football with friends. He travelled on the 21:17 train from Bickley to Penge East. We are keen to speak with anyone who remembers seeing him either on the train or getting off just after 21:30.

“Mr Guidera, who was carrying a pink T-mobile carrier bag, crossed the footbridge over the railway to the Newlands Park exit en route to meet a friend. He went into the local convenience store before walking towards the bus stop on Newlands Park where he was attacked. We are considering a number of possibilities, but believe this may have been a robbery. There would have been a number of people in the area and we are keen to speak with them.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives on 020 8721 4205 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Movement planning application submitted

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A planning application for a large development of new apartments, hotels and student accommodation at the corner of Greenwich High Road and Norman Road has been submitted.

Proposals for the mixed use development, named The Movement, include 181 residential apartments, 358 student accommodation units, a 104 bedroom three star hotel and a 30 bedroom boutique hotel.

The site of the proposed development is the Greenwich Industrial Estate which fronts onto Norman Road and is adjacent to the North Pole pub.

The plans also include space for shops, a health club, a nursery, cafe and office space with a dedicated business start up area.

The number of student accommodation units and residential apartments is less than was first suggested in the scoping report for this development that Greenwich.co.uk first reported on back in August 2010.

The developer behind the proposal is Cathedral Group – the same developer that redeveloped Devonport House into a hotel and student accommodation and is working on the large “Deptford Project” regeneration.

House fire in Fingal Street

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A house in Fingal Street was damaged last night after a fire broke out

Six fire engines and 30 firefighters attended the blaze after after a call was made to the emergency services at 8pm. The occupants – two adults and one child – had already evacuated the two storey mid terrace property by the time firefighters arrived at the scene.

Paul Ryan, a Watch Manager at East Greenwich Fire Station who attended the incident, said: “Firefighters worked hard to prevent the blaze from spreading to the neighbouring properties. When the fire was out, we visited other homes in the area and checked that they had working smoke alarms. The affected property had a smoke alarm on the ground floor but not on the first floor where the fire started. It’s always best to have a working smoke alarm on each floor of your home so that alarm can be raised as soon as the fire starts.”